Conventional data storage systems maintain host data on behalf of one or more host computers. If possible, these conventional data storage systems may compress the host data prior to storing the host data on physical storage. For example, a conventional data storage system may be able to compress some host data by a ratio of 2-to-1 and other host data by a ratio of 4-to-1.
Some conventional data storage systems store host data compressed at different compression ratios side by side in an intermixed manner. Other conventional data storage systems store host data compressed at different ratios in different storage areas, e.g., host data compressed at a ratio of 2-to-1 in one storage area and host data compressed at a ratio of 4-to-1 in another storage area.